What is the foundation of
America? "The Laws of Nature and of Nature's God"

“The laws of nature are the laws of God, who authority can be superseded by no
power on earth.” --George Mason, (1725-1792), author of the Virginia
Constitution and the Virginia Bill of Rights

You Have No Rights Without Natural Law - Our rights as
Americans are considered unalienable only because they were inherent in the
natural order of life established by the laws of nature and nature’s God. - By Jim
DeMint - While musing on the writings of
author and philosopher G.K. Chesterton in his personal notebook, a young John F.
Kennedy wrote, “Don’t ever take a fence down until you know the reason why it
was put up.” Fences hold things in we want to keep close, and protect us from
things we want to keep out. But Chesterton and JFK were not making a point about
physical fences. They were speaking of the ideas, principles, and institutions
that surround the things that make life worth living, and protect us from
threats to those things we value and love. This is the sort of fence we are
currently “taking down” in America. Since its inception, America has been
surrounded and protected by a unique set of ideas that created the strongest,
most prosperous, most secure and compassionate land of opportunity that has ever
existed. These ideas were considered by America’s founders to be “self-evident”
because they were based on the “Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God” (from the
first sentence of the Declaration of Independence).

Did America’s Founding Fathers believe in God? (PragerU)
Were they Christians? Or were they just Deists? And why is it important? In this
video, Joshua Charles, author and researcher at the Museum of the Bible,
explains that, while men like Washington, Adams, Jefferson and Franklin each
took different approaches to religion, all of them were steeped in the
traditional Judeo-Christian values found in the Bible. But did their beliefs
influence how they thought America should be governed? Watch the video at the
link to find out.

America: A Christian or a Secularist Nation? - By David Barton - In
a Boston Review article entitled “The Eternal Return of the Christian Nation,”
Stanford history professor Richard White first belittles and then attempts to
dispel what he terms the “myth” of a Christian nation. To prove his point, he
opens his piece by quoting John Adams’ comment that: “It was never pretended
that any persons employed in [drafting the founding documents] had interviews
with the gods or were in any degree under the inspiration of heaven.” Ours was a
government “founded on the natural authority of the people alone, without a
pretense of miracle or mystery.” 1
This statement by Adams seems to affirm White’s position. Yet the story is not
quite so simple. Indeed, White selectively quotes Adams to make him appear to
say almost the opposite of what he actually said.

By way of background, the quoted passages are from a single paragraph in
the preface of Adams’ three-volume work, A Defence of the Constitutions of
Government of the United States of America, written in 1787 in response to
British criticisms of the new American governments. In this work, Adams defends
the recently drafted state constitutions (the federal Constitution had not yet
been penned). To be properly understood, they must be viewed in the context of
the full paragraph from which White takes them. Adams begins the paragraph in
question by summarizing the pattern of human governments preceding the American
Revolution. He observed that earlier governments had been imposed on the people
rather than chosen by them, and that the primary means for accomplishing this
coercion had been by invoking the authority of various gods.

Adams explained: "It was the general opinion of ancient nations
that the divinity alone was adequate to the important office of giving laws to
men. The Greeks entertained this prejudice throughout all their dispersions; the
Romans cultivated the same popular delusion; and modern nations, in the
consecration of kings, and in several superstitious chimeras of divine right in
princes and nobles, are nearly unanimous in preserving remnants of it. Even the
venerable magistrates of Amersfort [a city in the province of Utrecht,
Netherlands] devoutly believe themselves God’s vicegerents. Is it that obedience
to the laws can be obtained from mankind in no other manner?" 2

It’s
the ‘Independence,’ Stupid By SCOTT OTT - ...in our time, many seem to think
'the Declaration' was penned to proclaim eternal verities about the human
condition -- a poetic tribute to 'life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness' --
as if it were a collection of fine words about high-minded ideals. No! It was a
rebellion against bad governance, against political arrogance, against
oppressive laws, against restriction, constraint, and imposition without
representation. We call it 'the Declaration,' but that's not the object. It's
the 'Independence,' stupid. The members of the Second Continental Congress did
not expect to forfeit their lives, fortunes, and sacred honor for stating the
obvious about the 'laws of nature and of nature's God.' Their necks ripened for
the noose because they altered, abolished, and threw off the yoke of their
government. They counted all as loss to obtain freedom; to be absolved of
allegiance to their government, to dissolve all political connections between
themselves and the state which they had always referred to as their own. 'The
Declaration' offers exhaustive reasons for committing open treason, nonetheless,
treason it was. Independence Day then is not a celebration of government, but a
regular reminder ... of the necessity to reject corrupt, abusive government.

The Americans Who Risked Everything - Rush Limbaugh Sr. - What kind
of men were the 56 signers who adopted the Declaration of Independence and who,
by their signing, committed an act of treason against the crown? ... With only a
few exceptions, such as Samuel Adams of Massachusetts, these were men of
substantial property. All but two had families. The vast majority were men of
education and standing in their communities. They had economic security as few
men had in the 18th Century. … Each had more to lose from revolution than he had
to gain by it.

Educating the Founders By Robert Curry - “At age sixteen
Jefferson and Madison and Hamilton were all being schooled by Scots who had come
to America as adults.” Garry Wills, Inventing America This remarkable fact
was no mere coincidence. Scholars from Scotland were held in the highest esteem
in colonial America because of the preeminence of Scottish thinkers and Scottish
universities at that time. The Scottish Enlightenment (it lasted from about
1730 until about 1790) was an explosion of creative intellectual energy in
science, philosophy, economics, and technological innovation. It arrived just in
time to have a decisive influence on the Founders. Jefferson, Madison and
Hamilton are the architects of the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution
and The Federalist Papers. If we want to understand their thinking and their
writings, we need to start with the fact that the Scottish Enlightenment
provided their teachers.
...John Witherspoon’s course in moral philosophy, which he dictated
year after year in largely unchanging form and which his students copied down
faithfully, is almost certainly the most influential single college course in
America’s history. Beyond his enormous influence as an educator, Witherspoon
was also one of the most important of the Founders. He was an early and
influential champion of American independence, and much more than merely a
signer of the Declaration of Independence. In fact, he played a central role in
the signing. When the Declaration was completed and ready to be signed, the
signers-to-be wavered. For two days they hesitated to affix their signatures.
To sign it, after all, was to provide the British with documentary
evidence of treason, punishable by death. John Witherspoon rose to the occasion,
speaking in his famously thick Scottish accent: “There is a tide in the affairs
of men, a nick of time. We perceive it now before us. To hesitate is to content
to our own slavery. That noble instrument upon your table, which ensures
immortality to its author, should be subscribed this very morning by every pen
in this house. He that will not respond to its accents and strain every nerve to
carry into effect its provisions is unworthy the name freeman.” His speech broke
the logjam and, as we all know, the delegates then swiftly signed the
Declaration.
Robert Curry is the author of the forthcoming book, Common Sense
Nation. You can visit him athttps://www.facebook.com/CommonSenseNationBook

Thomas
Jefferson, letter to Henry Lee, 1825 - "This was the object of
the Declaration of Independence. Not to find out new principles, or new
arguments, never before thought of, not merely to say things which had never
been said before; but to place before mankind the common sense of the subject,
in terms so plain and firm as to command their assent, and to justify ourselves
in the independent stand we are compelled to take. Neither aiming at originality
of principle or sentiment, nor yet copied from any particular and previous
writing, it was intended to be an expression of the American mind, and to give
to that expression the proper tone and spirit called for by the occasion."

What is the Law of Nature’s God? BY BILL
FORTENBERRY- These famous words form the
opening paragraph of one of the most influential documents in all of human
history – the American Declaration of Independence. According to this
paragraph, the American claim to independence was established upon “the Laws of
Nature and of Nature’s God,” but what did Thomas Jefferson mean by this phrase?
Nearly all of the modern historians who have written about this phrase have
accused Jefferson and the other signers of the Declaration of abandoning the God
of the Bible and erecting a more deistic god of nature in His place. But
this accusation is entirely false. Jefferson’s reference to the laws of
nature and of nature’s God had a very specific meaning that was well understood
by eighteenth century Americans. To understand what Jefferson meant by this
phrase, we need to consider how it was used in the time leading up to the
writing of the Declaration.

...In a renowned letter to Alexander Pope, Lord Bolingbroke wrote the following
words which were to become the basis for Jefferson’s opening paragraph of the
Declaration of Independence: “You will find that it is the modest, not the
presumptuous enquirer, who makes a real, and safe progress in the discovery of
divine truths. One follows nature, and nature’s God; that is, he follows God in
his works, and in his word.” Here we find a definition from the very individual
that all scholars recognize as the source of Jefferson’s phrase. According to
Lord Bolingbroke, the law of nature’s God is the Law which is found in God’s
Word. This was the definition which was intended by Jefferson, and this was the
manner in which his words were understood by our forefathers. The law of
nature’s God upon which our nation was founded is nothing less than the Bible
itself. (Click
here for the complete resource.)

The Founders DID NOT establish the Constitution
for the purpose of granting rights. Rather, they established this government of
laws (not a government of men) in order to secure each person's Creator endowed
rights to life, liberty, and property. Only in America, did a nation's founders
recognize that rights, though endowed by the Creator as unalienable
prerogatives, would not be sustained in society unless they were protected under
a code of law which was itself in harmony with a higher law. They called it
"natural law," or "Nature's law." Such law is the ultimate source and
established limit for all of man's laws and is intended to protect each of these
natural rights for all of mankind. The Declaration of Independence of 1776
established the premise that in America a people might assume the station "to
which the laws of Nature and Nature's God entitle them.."

Is the Declaration of Independence Illegal? Silly Brits.
After all these years, they still don't understand natural rights. During a
moot debate last week
at Franklin Hall in Philadelphia, British lawyers argued that the 1776 American
Declaration of Independence was not only illegal, but actually treasonable.
There is no legal principle then or now to allow a group of citizens to
establish their own laws because they want to, the British barristers
maintained. Well, of course seceding from Great Britain and renouncing
allegiance to King George III was both illegal and treasonable by British legal
standards. That's why the American colonists appealed not to their rights as
British subjects for a redress of a grievances (as they had done up until 1774)
but to the universal supra-political "Laws
of Nature and of Nature's God" and the natural rights that go along
with them.

Alexander Hamilton's words to set his Tory opponent straight in The
Farmer Refuted (1775) come to mind: "The fundamental source of
all your errors, sophisms, and false reasonings, is a total ignorance of the
natural rights of mankind. The sacred rights of mankind are not to be rummaged
for, among old parchments, or musty records. They are written, as with a sun
beam, in the whole volume of human nature, by the hand of the divinity itself;
and can never be erased or obscured by mortal power."

When the Declaration announces that it is their right, it is their duty, to
throw off such government, and to provide new guards for their future security,
this right to alter or abolish government is of course not to be found in
British common law. It is a natural right to which all men can appeal,
regardless of the constitution under which they live. ...

Laws of Nature and of Nature's God As a practical matter,
the Declaration of Independence announced to the world the unanimous decision of
the thirteen American colonies to separate themselves from Great Britain. But
its true revolutionary significance, then as well as now, is the declaration of a
new basis of political legitimacy in the sovereignty of the people. The Americans final appeal was not to any man-made decree or evolving spirit but to
rights inherently possessed by all men. These rights are found in eternal "Laws
of Nature and of Nature's God." As such, the Declaration's meaning transcends
the particulars of time and circumstances.

American Minute for November 15th: He lost two sons in the
Revolution, was the only clergyman to sign the Declaration and served on 120
Congressional Committees. His name was John Witherspoon, and he died NOVEMBER
15, 1794. Born in Scotland, he was a descendant of John Knox. John Witherspoon
was President of Princeton, leader of a New Jersey committee to abolish slavery,
and taught 9 of the writers of the U.S. Constitution, including James Madison.
His other Princeton students include a U.S. Vice-President, Supreme Court
Justices, Cabinet Members, Governors, Senators and Congressmen. John Adams
described John Witherspoon as "A true son of liberty...but first, he was a son
of the Cross." On May 17, 1776, the day Congress declared a Day of Fasting, Rev.
John Witherspoon told his Princeton students: "He is the best friend to American
liberty, who is most...active in promoting true and undefiled religion...to bear
down profanity and immorality of every kind. Whoever is an avowed enemy of God,
I scruple not to call him an enemy of his country. It is in the man of piety and
inward principle that we may...find the uncorrupted patriot, the useful citizen,
and the invincible soldier." John Witherspoon concluded: "God grant that in
America true religion and civil liberty may be inseparable."

When Samuel Adams signed the Declaration, he said:"We have this day restored
the Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and from
the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come."

"Among the objects of the Constitution of this Commonwealth, Liberty &
Equality stand in a conspicuous light. It is the first article in our declaration
of rights, all men are born free & equal, & have certain natural, essential &
unalienable rights. In the supposed state of nature, all men are equally bound
by the laws of nature, or to speak more properly, the laws of the Creator: They
are imprinted by the finger of God on the heart of man."Samuel Adams
(1722-1803) Father of the American Revolution, Patriot and Statesman

Without the moral virtue Americans derived from Scriptures, would the men who fought
for independence possess the knowledge and courage to do so with the odds they
faced?

Daniel Webster, in 1820, speaking at the the Bicentennial of the Pilgrims
landing at Plymouth Rock, he said this: "Our ancestors established their
system of government on morality and religious sentiment. Moral habits, they
believed, cannot safely be trusted on any other foundation than religious
principle, nor any government secure which is not supported by moral habits...
Whatever makes men good Christians, makes them good citizens."

On August 1, 1776, Samuel Adams stood before a large crowd on the steps of
the Philadelphia Statehouse and delivered a speech before the formal signing of the
Declaration Of Independence on August 2, 1776. In his speech he stated:
"We have
explored the temple of Royalty and found that the idol that we have bowed down to has Eyes
which see not, Ears that hear not our Prayers, and a heart like the nether millstone. We
have this day restored the Sovereign to Whom alone all men ought to be obedient; He reigns
in Heaven, and with a propitious Eye beholds His subjects assuming that freedom of
thought, and dignity of self direction, which He bestowed upon them. From the rising to
the setting Sun, may His Kingdom come."

Jesus said unto him, You
shall love the Lord your God with all your heart, and with all your soul, and
with all your mind. This is the first and great commandment. And the second is
like unto it, You shall love your neighbor as yourself. On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets.Matthew 22:37-40

The Constitution is an expression of the Declaration of Independence.

In the same manner as Jesus proclaimed, "On these two
commandments hang all the law and the prophets.," the Constitution and Bill of Rights hang on Jefferson's first two
paragraphs of the Declaration of Independence.

The Constitution's primary author, James Madison, wrote Thomas Jefferson on 8
February 1825, these words concerning the supremacy of the Declaration of
Independence over our nation's Constitution:

"On the distinctive principles of the Government...of the U. States, the
best guides are to be found in...The Declaration of Independence, as the
fundamental Act of Union of these States."

"Cursed be all that learning that is contrary to the cross of
Christ."�James Madison, Primary Author of the U. S.
Constitution and 4th U.S. president. America's Providential History, p. 93

President James Madison, June 20, 1785 - "Before any
man can be considered as a member of Civilized Society, he must first be
considered as a subject of the Governor of the Universe."

James Madison also wrote,"The belief in a God All Powerful wise and
good, is so essential to the moral order of the world and to the happiness of
man, that arguments which enforce it cannot be drawn from too many sources nor
adapted with too much solicitude to the different characters and capacities
impressed with it."
In a letter to Frederick Beasley.

George Mason 1772,
"The
laws of nature are the laws of God, Whose authority can be superseded
by no power on earth. A legislature must not obstruct our
obedience to Him from Whose punishment they cannot protect us, all human
constitutions which contradict His laws, we are in conscience bound to disobey."

President John Adams - "From the day
of the Declaration . . .they [the American people] were bound by the laws
of God, which they all, and by the laws of the Gospel, which they nearly
all, acknowledge as the rules of their conduct." And, ""From the day
of the Declaration . . .they [the American people] were bound by the laws
of God, which they all, and by the laws of the Gospel, which they nearly
all, acknowledge as the rules of their conduct." - President John Adams
...And, "[This] Form of Government is productive of every Thing which
is great and excellent among Men. But its Principles are as easily
destroyed, as human nature is corrupted. A Government is only to be
supported by pure Religion or Austere Morals. Private and public Virtue is
the only Foundation of Republics." -- John Adams, 2nd president of the
United States of America (Warren-Adams Letters, Massachusetts Historical
Society, 1917, Vol. 1, p. 222)

Samuel Adams - "[N]either the wisest constitution nor the wisest laws
will secure the liberty and happiness of a people whose manners are universally
corrupt."

Thomas Jefferson - "It is the manners and spirit of a people which
preserve a republic in vigor. A degeneracy in these is a canker which soon eats
to the heart of its laws and constitution."

Alexander Hamilton - "To grant that there is a supreme intelligence who rules the world and has
established laws to regulate the actions of his creatures; and still to assert
that man, in a state of nature, may be considered as perfectly free from all
restraints of law and government, appears to a common understanding altogether
irreconcilable. Good and wise men, in all ages, have embraced a very dissimilar
theory. They have supposed that the deity, from the relations we stand in to
himself and to each other, has constituted an eternal and immutable law, which
is indispensably obligatory upon all mankind, prior to any human institution
whatever. This is what is called the law of nature....Upon this law
depend the natural rights of mankind."

Calvin Coolidge, July 5, 1926,
Philadelphia, PA - "No other theory is adequate to
explain or comprehend the Declaration of Independence.
It is the product of the spiritual insight of the
people. We live in an age of science and of abounding
accumulation of material things. These did not create
our Declaration. Our Declaration created them. The
things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to
that, all our material prosperity, overwhelming though
it may appear, will turn to a barren scepter in our
grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage which
has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the
fathers who created it. We must not sink into a pagan
materialism. We must cultivate the reverence which they
had for the things that are holy. We must follow the
spiritual and moral leadership which they showed. We
must keep replenished, that they may glow with a more
compelling flame, the altar fires before which they
worshiped."

James Wilson (American Minute for August 21st:) He was one of six founding fathers to sign both the Declaration of
Independence and the Constitution. President Washington appointed him to
the Supreme Court. Born in Scotland, he was an active delegate at the
Constitutional Convention, speaking 168 times. His name was James Wilson
and he died AUGUST 21, 1798. The first law professor of the University
of Pennsylvania, James Wilson wrote in his Lectures on Law, 1789-91:
"Law...communicated to us by reason and conscience...has been called
natural; as promulgated by the Holy Scriptures, it has been called
revealed...But it should always be remembered, that this law, natural or
revealed...flows from the same divine source; it is the law of God."
James Wilson continued: "Human law must rest its authority, ultimately,
upon the authority of that law, which is divine."The Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania records in Updegraph v. Commonwealth, 1824: "The late Judge
James Wilson, of the Supreme Court of the United States, Professor of
Law in the College in Philadelphia...for our present form of government
we are greatly indebted to his exertions...In his Course of Lectures (3d
Vol. of his Works, 122), he states that...'Christianity is part of the
common-law.'"

"The Declaration of Independence...[is the] declaratory charter
of our rights, and the rights of man."
Thomas Jefferson (letter to Samuel Adams Wells, 12 May 1821)

June 11,
1776 - The Continental Congress appoints a committee to draft the Declaration
of Independence. This
"Committee of Five" consisted of John Adams, Roger Sherman, Benjamin Franklin,
Robert Livingston, and Thomas Jefferson.

How Declaration of
Independence Was Drafted; Thomas Jefferson Selected as the Author Because
Richard H. Lee Was Absent (PDF) On June 10 Congress postponed final
consideration for three weeks, and on the following day appointed a committee of
five to draw up the Declaration. Richard Henry Lee, as the proposer of the plan,
would surely have been on the committee and, possibly, its Chairman, had he not
in the meantime been hurriedly summoned home at the illness of his wife. But for
that, Lee might have been the author of the Declaration instead of his younger
Virginia colleague, Thomas Jefferson, then but 3l years of age. Jefferson had
brought to Congress the reputation of wielding a facile pen, and in the
balloting for the committee he received a majority of votes and became its
Chairman. The others were John Adams of Massachusetts, Benjamin Franklin of
Pennsylvania, Roger Sherman of Connecticut, and Robert R. Livingston of New
York. How did Jefferson come to be selected to write the Declaration, "the one
American state paper" as has been said, "that has reached to supreme distinction
in the world and that seems likely to last as long us American civilization
lasts"? The most interesting account is given by John Adams, who says that he
and Thomas Jefferson were designated by the committee to prepare the rough
minutes in a proper form Mr. Jefferson first proposed that. Adams prepare the
draft of the Declaration. Adams declined, giving, as he says in his
autobiography, the following reasons; 1) That he was a Virginian and I a
Massacushusettensian, 2) That he was a Southern man and I a Northern one. 3)
That I had been so obnoxious for my early and constant zeal in promoting the
measure that every draft of mine would undergo a more severe scrutiny and
criticism in Congress than of his composition. 4) And lastly, and that would be
reason enough if there were no other, I had a great opinion of the elegance of
his pen and none at all of my own. I therefore insisted that no hesitation
should be made on his part. He accordingly took the minutes, and in a day or two
produced to me his draft. (See Complete NY Times
article of July 1, 1917 PDF or here online:
http://www.ushistory.org/declaration/more/nyt070117.htm.

On
July 3, 1776, Founding Patriot John Adams wrote to his beloved wife, Abigail:Yesterday, the greatest question was decided, which ever was debated in
America, and a greater, perhaps, never was or will be decided among men. You
will see in a few days a Declaration setting forth the causes which have
impelled us to this mighty revolution, and the reasons which will justify it in
the sight of God and man. ... It ought to be commemorated as the Day of
Deliverance by solemn Acts of Devotion to God Almighty. It ought to be
solemnized with pomp and parade, with shews, games, sports, guns, bells,
bonfires and illuminations from one end of this Continent to the other from this
time forward forever more. You will think me transported with Enthusiasm but I
am not. I am well aware of the Toil and Blood and Treasure, that it will cost us
to maintain this Declaration, and support and defend these States. Yet through
all the Gloom I can see the Rays of ravishing Light and Glory. I can see that
the End is more than worth all the Means. And that Posterity will triumph in
that Day's Transaction.

"We have staked the whole future of American civilization, not upon the
power of government, far from it. We have staked the future of all of our
political institutions upon the capacity of mankind of self-government; upon the
capacity of each and all of us to govern ourselves, to control ourselves, to
sustain ourselves according to the Ten Commandments of God."James
Madison (1751-1836) Father of the Constitution, 4th President of the United
States

"Only a virtuous people
are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have
more need of masters." ... "The worship of God is a duty...Freedom is not a
gift bestowed upon us by other men, but a right that belongs to us by the laws
of God and nature, I never doubted the existence of the Deity, that he made
the world, and governed it by His Providence...The pleasures of this world are
rather from God's goodness than our own merit... Whoever shall introduce into
the public affairs the principles of primitive (essential) Christianity will
change the face of the world... Rebellion to tyrants is obedience to God."
- Benjamin
Franklin

Marking the Anniversary of Lincoln's First Inaugural Address
One hundred and fifty years ago, on March 4, 1861, Abraham Lincoln delivered his
first inaugural address. Facing the most profound political crisis in the
nation's history, Lincoln made the case against secession by explaining the
nature of the Union and asserting republican government as the foundation of
individual liberty and free society. In one of the great speeches of American
history - still instructing us today - Lincoln not only dealt with questions of
unprecedented immediacy but also explained and justified the American
constitutionalism on the grounds of liberty and political rights. (Heritage's
Julia Shaw
noted last month that Lincoln made a powerful case that the Constitution is
based on the principles of the Declaration of Independence.) To mark this
anniversary, Lincoln scholar Herman Belz spoke at The Heritage Foundation about
the address and its legacy. A professor at the University of Maryland, Belz
spoke at the invitation of Heritage's Center for American Studies. Watch a video
of the speech.

"We live in an age of science and of abounding accumulation of material
things. These did not create our Declaration. Our Declaration created
them. The things of the spirit come first. Unless we cling to that, all
our material prosperity, overwhelming though it may appear, will turn to a
barren sceptre in our grasp. If we are to maintain the great heritage
which has been bequeathed to us, we must be like-minded as the fathers who
created it."Calvin Coolidge

American Minute for July 4th: The Declaration of Independence was
approved JULY 4, 1776. John Hancock signed first, saying "the price
on my head has just doubled." Benjamin Franklin said "We
must hang together or most assuredly we shall hang separately." Of
the 56 signers: 17 lost their fortunes, 12 had their homes destroyed, 5
became prisoners of war, 1 had two sons imprisoned on the British starving
ship Jersey, 1 had a son killed in battle, 1 had his wife die from harsh
prison treatment and 9 signers died during the War. When Samuel Adams
signed the Declaration, he said: "We have this day restored the
Sovereign to whom all men ought to be obedient. He reigns in heaven and
from the rising to the setting of the sun, let His kingdom come."
John Adams said: "I am apt to believe that it will be celebrated by
succeeding generations as the great anniversary Festival. It ought to be
commemorated, as the Day of Deliverance, by solemn acts of devotion to God
Almighty." John Adams continued: "I am well aware of the
toil and blood and treasure that it will cost to maintain this
Declaration...Yet through all the gloom I can see the rays of ravishing
light and glory...Posterity will triumph in that day's transaction, even
though we [may regret] it, which I trust in God we shall not."

"There can be no
prescription old enough to supersede the Law of Nature and the grant of
God Almighty, who has given to all men a natural right to be free, and
they have it ordinarily in their power to make themselves so, if they
please."--American lawyer and patriot
James Otis
(1725-1783)

The U. S. Constitution

The
Constitution Made EasyBy
Mike Holler not only offers a modernized version for easier reading; it actually
makes the meaning of the original seem to jump off the page! Using a
side-by-side format prevents readers from having to continuously jump back and
forth to keep up with the Constitutional changes.

"Hold on, my friends, to the Constitution and to the Republic for which it
stands. Miracles do not cluster and what has happened once in 6,000 years, may
not happen again. Hold on to the Constitution, for if the American Constitution
should fail, there will be anarchy throughout the world." --Daniel
Webster (1782-1852) Author, Lawyer and Patriot

"Our peculiar security is in the possession of a written
Constitution. Let us not make it a blank paper by construction." --Thomas
Jefferson, letter to Wilson Nicholas, 1803

"The powers delegated by the proposed Constitution to the federal government
are few and defined. Those which are to remain in the State governments are
numerous and indefinite."James Madison (Primary author of the
Constitution), Federalist No. 45

"The only foundation of a free constitution is pure virtue; and if this cannot
be inspired into our people in a greater measure than they have it now, they may
change their rulers and the forms of government, but they will not obtain a
lasting liberty. They will only exchange tyrants and tyrannies."
John Adams

"The nature of the encroachment
upon American constitution is such, as to grow every day more and more
encroaching. Like a cancer; it eats faster and faster every hour. The revenue
creates pensioners, and the pensioners urge for more revenue. The people grow
less steady, spirited and virtuous, the seekers more numerous and more corrupt,
and every day increases the circles of their dependents and expectants, until
virtue, integrity, public spirit, simplicity and frugality become the objects of
ridicule and scorn, and vanity, luxury, foppery, selfishness, meanness, and
downright venality swallow up the whole of society." --John Adams

"The first and almost the only Book deserving of universal attention is the
Bible. Our Constitution was made for a moral and religious people. It is wholly
inadequate for the government of any other."John Quincy Adams

"[T]he only foundation for a useful education in a republic is to be laid in
religion. Without this there can be no virtue, and without virtue there can be
no liberty, and liberty is the object and life of all republican governments."Benjamin
Rush (1806)

"If I could have entertained the slightest apprehension that the
constitution framed by the Convention . . . might possibly endanger the
religious rights of any ecclesiastical society, certainly I would never have
placed my signature to it."George Washington

"Nothing is more certain than that a general profligacy and corruption of
manners make a people ripe for destruction. A good form of government may hold
the rotten materials together for some time, but beyond a certain pitch, even
the best constitution will be ineffectual, and slavery must ensue."John Witherspoon

"The Constitution is not an instrument for the government to restrain the
people, it is an instrument for the people to restrain the government."
Patrick Henry

"The Constitution is a mere thing of wax in the hands of the judiciary,
which they may twist and shape into any form they please."Thomas
Jefferson

"I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground that
'all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor
prohibited by it to the states, are reserved to the states or to the people.' To
take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specially drawn around the powers
of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, not longer
susceptible of any definition." Thomas
Jefferson

"In questions of power, then, let no more be said of confidence in man, but
bind him down from mischief by the chains of the Constitution." Thomas
Jefferson

"You seem...to consider the judges as the ultimate arbiters of all
Constitutional questions: a very dangerous doctrine indeed, and one, which would
place us under the despotism of an oligarchy. Our judges are as honest as other
men, and not more so. They have, with others, the same passions for party, for
power, and the privilege of their corps. ...And their power (is) the more
dangerous, as they are in office for life and not responsible, as the other
functionaries are, to the elective control. The Constitution has erected no such
single tribunal, knowing that to whatever hands confided, with the corruptions
of time and party, its members would become despots." Thomas
Jefferson

"The liberties of our
country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all
hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received
them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us
with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to
us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the
present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested
from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the
artifices of false and designing men."--Samuel
Adams

"If we and our
posterity...live always in the fear of God and shall respect His
Commandments...we may have the highest hopes of the future fortunes of our
country.... But if we...neglect religious instruction and authority; violate the
rules of eternal justice, trifle with the injunctions of morality, and
recklessly destroy the constitution which holds us together, no man can tell how
sudden a catastrophe may overwhelm us and bury all our glory in profound
obscurity." Daniel WebsterAddressing the New York Historical Society, 1852

See also:The
Constitutional Convention-
Gordon Lloyd, a professor at Pepperdine University, has constructed the best,
most comprehensive and user-friendly resource on the Constitutional Convention
debates available on the web

How To Read
The Federalist Papers ($7.00) Featured Product First Principles Series How to
Read the Federalist Papers Softcover, 107 pages Thomas Jefferson called The
Federalist Papers the best commentary on the principles of government, which
ever was written. Over 200 years after the writing of these essays, most
commentators — liberal and conservative — still agree. While The Federalist is
indeed an important resource for understanding the meaning of our Constitution,
its relevance is based on something deeper. The authors of the essays knew that
the principles of our Founding would not always be unquestioned, so they gave us
the strongest defense of those principles as part of the immediate political
struggle for ratification. The Federalist not only illuminates the meaning of
the Constitution's text, it also explains how our Constitution embodies the core
principles of the Declaration of Independence and why it must be preserved in
the face of present struggles. In this monograph, Anthony Peacock, professor of
political science at Utah State University, offers us a brief guide to The
Federalist, a road map illuminating the major issues treated in the essays and
explaining their continued relevance for us today. An appendix of important
passages on contemporary subjects is also included as a helpful resource for
interested readers. Despite our contemporary challenges, we still enjoy some
measure of constitutional government. More importantly, our Founders have left
us with their teaching and example, showing us the way to restore our
Constitution to its rightful place. Our Constitution will endure only if our
leaders understand why it is defensible, and there is no better argument in
favor of the Constitution that The Federalist Papers.

46 Pages By Scott Liell
Thomas Paine, a native of Thetford, England, arrived in America's colonies
with little in the way of money, reputation, or prospects, though he did
have a letter of recommendation in his pocket from Benjamin Franklin.
Paine also had a passion for liberty in all its forms, and an abiding
hatred of tyranny. His forceful, direct expression of those principles
found voice in a pamphlet he wrote entitled Common Sense, which
proved to be the most influential political work of the time. Ultimately,
Paine's treatise provided inspiration to the second Continental Congress
for the drafting of the Declaration of Independence. 46 Pages is a
dramatic look at a pivotal moment in our country's formation, a scholar's
meticulous recreation of the turbulent years leading up to the
Revolutionary War, retold with excitement and new insight.

However, it also needs to be known: From
American Vision, Gary DeMar -
How many times have you heard some skeptic claim that this or that
non-Christian was a Founding Father of America? Thomas Jefferson is one of
their patron saints, and yet he wasn't even present during the drafting of
the Constitution. Of course, Jefferson was the primary author of the
Declaration of Independence which states emphatically that God is the
Creator and the Judge of the world. The ACLU plays down these words.
Benjamin Franklin is another one skeptics love to trot out as an
anti-religious Founding Father. But it was Franklin who stood up at the
Constitutional Convention and quoted Psalm 127:1 as a warning to the
delegates: Unless the Lord builds the house, they labor in vain who build it." Not much is said about these remarks by Franklin.

So liberals bring out what they believe is their biggest gun, Thomas Paine.
Paine wrote Common Sense in 1776 and used the Bible (Judges 8; 1 Sam. 8;
Matt. 22:21) to make the case that Americans had a biblical right to
oppose tyrannical governments. These facts are ignored by today's scholars, and skeptics. Instead, they reference
Paine's The Age of Reason
as the work they claim proves America was founded on Enlightenment
principles. Hogwash! The first part wasn't published until 1794. Even Paine's friends denounced him for his views. John Adams called Paine a
"blackguard" who wrote out of the depths of "a malignant heart." George
Washington, previously one of Paine's fiercest advocates, attacked Paine's
principles in his Farewell Address (without referring to his name) as
unpatriotic and subversive. But you would never know any of these facts if
you sat through a history lecture on the period in a modern-day college
classroom.

But here's something else you will probably have never hear: Paine's Age
of Reason was thoroughly refuted by Elias Boudinot in his masterful book
The
Age of Revelation. Never heard of Boudinot? I'm not surprised.
It's because Boudinot was a real Founding Father who served as a delegate
to the Continental Congress, signed the Treaty of Paris, helped design the
Great Seal of the United States, served as Director of the United States
Mint, founded the American Bible Society, and proposed a resolution (that
passed) just after the ratification of the First Amendment that called on
the President to issue a Thanksgiving Day Proclamation. Boudinot said he
"could not think of letting the session pass over without offering an
opportunity to all the citizens of the United States of joining with one
voice, in returning to Almighty God their sincere thanks for the many
blessings he had poured down upon them." You won't find any of these
inconvenient truths in today's textbooks.

Boudinot believed it was Paine's popularity with his 1776 Common Sense
that attracted people to The Age of Reason. It's in this book that Paine
declares that the Bible is more "the word of a demon than the word of God"
being "a history of wickedness that has served to corrupt and brutalize
mankind." When Boudinot heard that "thousands of copies of the Age of
Reason had been sold at public." he decided to write a refutation of the
incendiary work. Boudinot was a man ahead of his time. He understood th

at
young people would be the most susceptible to Paine's arguments. Little
has changed in 200 years.

"When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one
people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another,
and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to
which the Laws of Nature and of Nature's Godentitle them, a decent
respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes
which impel them to the separation." The second paragraph continues:
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created
equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights,
that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness...."

"Unalienable rights" are "entitled" if they do not
violate "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God"
which lays out the boundaries and rules for
America's Laws, just as athletes are "entitled"
to play according to the boundaries and rules of their sport. Otherwise there
would be chaos. Civil Rights and Liberties are "entitled"
by "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God."
Yet marriage is being
redefined and schools
are now teaching our
children that which "goes
against nature" is normal. What then
is the real "hate crime?"
Being out of the boundaries of "the Laws of
Nature and of Nature's God," as is homosexuality,
depicts the chaos in the facts
and consequences of that lifestyle. Or did Thomas Jefferson write
the opening paragraph in vain, but not a letter to the Baptists?

What is the "new and improved" basis in determining how "Rights" are
"entitled?" What new wisdom is being employed? Has the word "nature" also
been redefined to a new an improved "politically correct" secular liberal
definition which excludes "moral virtue," responsibility and commitment?

"In the supposed state of nature, all men are equally
bound by the laws of nature, or to speak more properly, the laws of the
Creator." Samuel Adams (letter to the Legislature of Massachusetts, 17
January 1794) Reference: Original Intent, Barton (224); original The Writings of
Samuel Adams, Cushing, ed., vol. 4 (356)

"The moral precepts delivered in the sacred oracles form a part of the law
of nature, are of the same origin and of the same obligation, operating
universally and perpetually."James Wilson (Of the Law of Nature,
1804) Reference: The Works of the Honourable James Wilson, Wilson, ed., vol.
1 (137-138)

Justice William O. Douglas of the U.S. Supreme Court in the 1961 case of
McGowan vs. Maryland:"The institutions of our society are founded on the belief that there
is an authority higher than the authority of the State; that there is a moral law which
the State is powerless to alter; that the individual possess rights, conferred by the
Creator which government must respect. The Declaration Of Independence stated the now
familiar theme: 'We hold these Truths to be self evident, that all Men are created equal,
that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable Rights, that among these
are Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness.' And the body of the Constitution as well
as the Bill of Rights enshrined these principles." (The following
year, prayer was removed from schools.)

"Far from being rivals or enemies, religion and law are
twin sisters, friends, and mutual assistants. Indeed, these two sciences run
into each other. The divine law, as discovered by reason and the moral sense,
forms an essential part of both."James Wilson - Reference: The
Works of James Wilson, McCloskey, ed., 125.

"In its main features the
Declaration of Independence is a spiritual document. It is a declaration not
of material but spiritual conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty,
the rights of man, these are not elements which we can see and touch. They are
ideals. They have their source and their roots in religious convictions. They
belong to the unseen world. Unless the faith of the American people in these
religious convictions is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will
perish. We cannot continue to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the
cause. If all men are created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with
inalienable rights, that is final. If governments derive their just power from
the consent of the governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made
beyond these propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth and their
soundness, the only direction in which he can proceed historically is not
forward, but backward toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of
the individual, no rule of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that
direction cannot lay claim to progress."Calvin Coolidge

The origin of this statement from Sir William Blackstone (1723-1780)
Knight, King's Counsel, Solicitor to the Queen, Member of Parliament, and a
Justice of the Court of Common Pleas and the King's Bench. Book 1, Section II
of the Commentaries, entitled
"Of the Nature of Laws in General." Precisely:
"This law of nature, being coeval [existing at the same time - ed.] with
mankind, and dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any
other. It is binding over all the globe in all countries, and at all times:
no human laws are of any validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as
are valid derive all their force and all their authority, mediately or
immediately, from this original."

And: "This law of nature, being co-eval with mankind and
dictated by God himself, is of course superior in obligation to any other. It is
binding over all the globe, in all countries, and at all times: no human laws
are in validity, if contrary to this; and such of them as are valid derive all
their force, and all their authority, mediately or immediately, from this
original."

"Upon these two foundations, the law of nature and the law of
revelation, depend all human laws; that is to say, no human laws should be
suffered [permitted] to contradict these."William Blackstone,
Commentaries on the Laws of England, 4 vols. (Chicago, IL: The
University of Chicago Press, [1765-1769] 1979), 1:38, 41, 42.

Thomas Jefferson further complies when he said "A free people claim their
rights as derived from
the laws of nature, and not as the gift of their chief magistrate." AND "[It is] God who
gave us liberty. And can the liberties of a nation be thought secure when we
have removed their only firm basis, a conviction in
the minds of the people that these liberties are a
Gift of God?"

This means God, not the State, nor the Federal Government is the author of
"Rights," according to "the Laws of Nature and of Nature's God," regardless of
what the ACLU or the "despotic branch" would coerce us into believing.

So why do liberals,
despotic judges and the
ACLU believe otherwise? And if these quotes from Jefferson properly represents his
intent for our Nation, then why does the liberal left
continue to misrepresent a letter he wrote to the Baptists and twist the phrase "Separation
of Church and State" to deceive
and steal America's Christian Heritage?
And why are they getting away with it?

Therefore, the law is
ignored And justice is never upheld. For the wicked surround the righteous;
Therefore, justice comes out perverted. Habakkuk 1:4 (NASB)

Cicero - "Power and the law are not synonymous. In truth
they are frequently in opposition and irreconcilable. There is God's Law from
which all equitable laws of man emerge and by which men must live if they are
not to die in oppression, chaos and despair. Divorces from God's eternal and
immutable Law, established before the founding of the suns, man's power is evil
no matter the noble words with which it is employed or the motives urged when
enforcing it. Men of good will, mindful therefore of the Law laid down by God,
will oppose government whose rule is by men and, if they wish to survive as a
nation, they will destroy that government which attempts to adjudicate by the
whim or power of venal judges."

First
Prayer in Congress

As recorded in the Journals of the Continental Congress
the Rev. Mr. Jacob Duche, an Episcopal clergyman, was invited to open the First
Congress with prayer which was held in Carpenters' Hall in Philadelphia, PA. The
Rev. Mr. Duche first read Psalms 35 from the Psalter for the Seventh day of
September, 1774, then proceeded to extemporaneously pray the following prayer:

"Be Thou present O God of Wisdom, and direct the counsel
of this Honorable Assembly; enable them to settle all things on the best and
surest foundations; that the scene of blood may be speedily closed; that Order,
Harmony and Peace may be effectually restored, and that Truth and Justice,
Religion and Piety, prevail and flourish among the people. Preserve the health
of their bodies, and the vigor of their minds, shower down on them, and the
millions they here represent, such temporal blessings as Thou seeth expedient
for them in this world, and crown them with everlasting Glory in the world to
come. All this we ask in the Name and through the merits of Jesus Christ, Thy
Son and our Savior, Amen."

Washington was kneeling there, and Henry, Randolph, Rutledge,
Lee, and Jay, and by their side there stood bowed in reverence, the Puritan
Patriots of New England, who at that moment had reason to believe that an armed
soldiery was wasting their humble households. It was believed that Boston had
been bombarded and destroyed.

They prayed fervently "for America, for Congress, for the
Province of Massachusetts Bay, and especially for the town of Boston," and who
can realize the emotion with which they turned imploringly to Heaven for Divine
interposition and - "It was enough" says Mr. Adams, "to melt a heart of stone. I
saw the tears gush into the eyes of the old, grave pacific Quakers of
Philadelphia."

"The day of our nation's birth in that little hall in
Philadelphia, [was] a day on which debate had raged for hours. The men
gathered there were honorable men hard-pressed by a king who had flouted the
very laws they were willing to obey. Even so, to sign the Declaration of
Independence was such an irretrievable act that the walls resounded with the
words 'treason, the gallows, the headsman's axe,' and the issue remained in
doubt. [On that day] 56 men, a little band so unique we have never seen their
like since, had pledged their lives, their fortunes and their sacred honor. Some
gave their lives in the war that followed, most gave their fortunes, and all
preserved their sacred honor... In recent years, however, I've come to think of
that day as more than just the birthday of a nation. It also commemorates the
only true philosophical revolution in all history. Oh, there have been
revolutions before and since ours. But those revolutions simply exchanged one
set of rules for another. Ours was a revolution that changed the very concept of
government. Let the Fourth of July always be a reminder that here in this
land, for the first time, it was decided that man is born with certain God-given
rights; that government is only a convenience created and managed by the people,
with no powers of its own except those voluntarily granted to it by the people.
We sometimes forget that great truth, and we never should."
Ronald Reagan

"In its main features the Declaration of Independence
is a spiritual document. It is a declaration not of material but spiritual
conceptions. Equality, liberty, popular sovereignty, the rights of man—these are
not elements which we can see and touch. They are ideals. They have their
source and their roots in religious convictions. They belong to the unseen
world. Unless the faith of the American people in these religious convictions
is to endure, the principles of our Declaration will perish. We cannot continue
to enjoy the result if we neglect and abandon the cause. If all men are
created equal, that is final. If they are endowed with inalienable rights, that
is final. If governments derive their just power from the consent of the
governed, that is final. No advance, no progress can be made beyond these
propositions. If anyone wishes to deny their truth and their soundness, the only
direction in which he can proceed historically is not forward, but backward
toward the time when there was no equality, no rights of the individual, no rule
of the people. Those who wish to proceed in that direction cannot lay claim to
progress." Calvin Coolidge

"May it be to the world, what I believe it will be,
(to some parts sooner, to others later, but finally to all,) the signal of
arousing men to burst the chains under which monkish ignorance and superstition
had persuaded them to bind themselves, and to assume the blessings and security
of self-government. That form which we have substituted, restores the free
right to the unbounded exercise of reason and freedom of opinion. All eyes are
opened, or opening, to the rights of man. The general spread of the light of
science has already laid open to every view the palpable truth, that the mass of
mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted
and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God. These are
grounds of hope for others. For ourselves, let the annual return of this day
forever refresh our recollections of these rights, and an undiminished devotion
to them." Thomas Jefferson

John Adams: The general principles on which the fathers
achieved independence were the general principles of Christianity. I will avow
that I then believed, and now believe, that those general principles of
Christianity are as eternal and immutable as the existence and attributes of
God. ... The Christian religion is, above all the religions that ever prevailed
or existed in ancient or modern times, the religion of wisdom, virtue, equity
and humanity.

Samuel Adams: I [rely] upon the merits of Jesus Christ for a
pardon of all my sins. ... I conceive we cannot better express ourselves than by
humbly supplicating the Supreme Ruler of the world ... bringing in the holy and
happy period when the kingdoms of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ may be
everywhere established, and the people willingly bow to the scepter of Him who
is the Prince of Peace. ... We may with one heart and voice humbly implore His
gracious and free pardon through Jesus Christ, supplicating His Divine aid ...
[and] above all to cause the religion of Jesus Christ, in its true spirit, to
spread far and wide till the whole earth shall be filled with His glory.

John Hancock: That the spiritual kingdom of our Lord and
Savior Jesus Christ may be continually increasing until the whole earth shall be
filled with His glory.

Patrick Henry: Being a Christian ... is a character which I
prize far above all this world has or can boast. ... The Bible is a book worth
more than all the other books that were ever printed. ... This is all the
inheritance I can give to my dear family. The religion of Christ can give them
one, which will make them rich indeed.

John Jay: Condescend, merciful Father! to grant as far as
proper these imperfect petitions, to accept these inadequate thanksgivings, and
to pardon whatever of sin hath mingled in them for the sake of Jesus Christ, our
blessed Lord and Savior; unto Whom, with Thee, and the blessed Spirit, ever one
God, be rendered all honor and glory, now and forever. ... The Bible is the best
of all books, for it is the word of God and teaches us the way to be happy in
this world and in the next. Continue therefore to read it and to regulate your
life by its precepts. ... Providence has given to our people the choice of their
rulers, and it is the duty as well as the privilege and interest of our
Christian nation, to select and prefer Christians for their rulers.

Thomas Jefferson: I am a Christian in the only sense in which
He wished anyone to be: sincerely attached to His doctrines in preference to all
others. ... I am a real Christian -- that is to say, a disciple of the doctrines
of Jesus Christ.

James Madison: I have sometimes thought there could not be a
stronger testimony in favor of religion or against temporal enjoyments, even the
most rational and manly, than for men who occupy the most honorable and gainful
departments and [who] are rising in reputation and wealth, publicly to declare
their unsatisfactoriness by becoming fervent advocates in the cause of Christ.

My point in listing these snippets of wisdom from our
Founders is to make the case plain that the Left's proscription on the
expression of faith, censorship that is antithetical to the very existence of
our Constitution and Liberty, will not cease until such expressions have been
expelled from all public
venues and forums. Then, and only then, can the rule of men fully supersede
the Rule of Law.

The
extinction of Deism: Historical riddle solved & lessons for today
By Fred Hutchison - Deism had a rapid rise to popularity and an even more rapid
fall into oblivion. The rapid extinction of the once popular and politically
influential Deism in the early nineteenth century is an old riddle of history --
which has now been solved by Avery Cardinal Dulles with important lessons for
today. Deism is the belief that after God created the world and gave man reason,
He retreated and left man to fend for himself, trusting man to use reason to
solve all His problems. Man was expected to use reason to discover the laws of
nature and employ them for his benefit and to discover the Universal Moral Law
and obey it. Mainstream Deism included a Last Judgment based upon the
individual's obedience or disobedience to the moral law. Some Deists believed in
divine providence, but not in answers to prayer or miracles.

The rise of Deism Deism was invented in the late seventeenth century in England
and was inspired by the philosophers and scientists of the Age of Reason. Deism
was probably the inspiration for the creation of Masonry (or Freemasonry) in
England in the early eighteenth century. Contrary to many popular myths and
slanders about Masonry, mainstream English and American Masonry is essentially a
form of Deism in its relationship to God and its rationalistic, moralistic,
fraternal, and philanthropic character. It is not Christian, but welcomes all
monotheists including Christians as members. Masonry is a quaint vestige of the
now extinct eighteenth century quasi-religion/philosophy of Deism. ...The
extinction of Deism Avery Cardinal Dulles provided seven reasons for the
collapse of Deism in The Deist Minimum published in the bimonthly First
Things. I have deduced six additional reasons. First, let's hear from the
Cardinal. (Click
here for
the 13 reasons.)

David Barton of
Wallbuilders.com is an historian who speaks around the country to share the
truth about the American founding, using the original writings of the Founders.
This information is no longer presented in our public schools, but it was for
the first 200+ centuries of our nation's existence. Here are the You Tube links
where you can hear this history, in the Founders' words. I hope you'll share
this with others after viewing, even to Deists.

ConSource Updates: Founders
Drafts of the Constitution Founders' Drafts of the Constitution
Manuscripts added to ConSource.org There is a new
ConSource collection up on
ConSource.org. We have added the
Founder's Drafts of the Constitution, a wonderful collection of the unique
edits and notes George Washington, John Dickenson, and James Wilson took
at the Constitutional Convention of 1787. We encourage visitors to get on
ConSource.org and to view the
images of these original manuscripts click
here.
We will continue to add other various delegates notes as well as the
transcriptions of those already posted.

Freedom of Expression - National
Paralegal College Constitutional Law & Criminal Procedure - First
Amendment: The relevant portion of the First Amendment, passed in 1791,
reads "Congress shall make no law" abridging the freedom of speech, or of the
press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble ...Clearly
there must be some limits on the freedom of expression, and these will be
explored in detail later in this Chapter. Not every example of expression
which is subject to First Amendment protection will be permissible in every
context.